How to manage diabetes

Jan. 30, 2014 11:32 AM

Written by

Brandi Schlossberg, Health Source writer

Diabetes is a disease that has no cure, which makes prevention of prime importance. For those who have already been diagnosed with diabetes, learning to manage the disease can assist in avoiding further health issues. Here, local experts weigh in on the best ways to prevent and manage diabetes.

“My best advice is to pay attention to what you eat,” said Todd Inman, MD, who is board-certified in both family medicine and wound care. “Read labels and realize the best foods to live on are those you would find growing on a local farm, and the worst foods are not really food — they are laboratory creations that essentially are toxic to our bodies.”

According to the American Diabetes Association, about five percent of people with diabetes are born with the condition, and this is called type 1 diabetes. However, for those who were not born with type 1 diabetes, the ability to prevent the development of type 2 diabetes is quite powerful. Through proper diet and exercise, this chronic disease may be avoided. Taking steps to prevent diabetes can be especially crucial for those who are at greater risk for developing the disease.

“Advancing age and family history plays a major role, and some ethnic groups are quite vulnerable, including Native Americans and Asians,” said Inman, who serves as medical director of the Wound Care Center at Northern Nevada Medical Center. “Risk factors that can be controlled are obesity and sedentary lifestyle.”

If you or a loved one have been diagnosed with diabetes already, then it’s time to turn to proper management of the disease for the best possible outcomes. According to Helen Gray, MD, who is a primary care provider with Saint Mary’s Medical Group, this begins with a few basic and important action steps.

Once diabetes has developed, it cannot be cured, due to the fact that diabetes is caused by damage to cells in the pancreas. However, proper management of this disease can bring big benefits to the diabetic patient.

“Many patients will change their lifestyle so much that their blood sugars can return to normal even without medication,” Inman said. “Their metabolism can still function as if they didn’t have diabetes.”

“However, the damage is still present and permanent,” he continued. “So, if that patient returned to an unhealthy lifestyle with weight gain, it’s very likely their blood sugars would become elevated once again.”

Figuring out how to alter one’s diet in order to manage diabetes, and then sticking to those dietary guidelines, seems to be one of the most vital steps toward managing this disease — and it also may be one of the toughest steps to master.

“One of the most common challenges I often hear from my patients is difficulty with changing their nutrition,” Gray said. “For some, it’s because they haven’t had the proper diabetic education on proper foods to eat and proper portion sizes, while for others it is difficulty sticking with a diabetic diet once they’ve been educated.”

The motivation to manage diabetes optimally may be the fact that, when poorly managed, this disease can have dire consequences, from kidney failure and heart attack to amputations and loss of eyesight.

“Patients who get the best results are those who take responsibility for their blood sugars and decide to do those things necessary to live healthier,” Inman said. “If you ever want to implement changes, you always should first check with your physician and monitor your sugars closely to avoid getting hypoglycemic, which can be very dangerous.”